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Credit: DH Illustration
Human beings are essentially social beings, products of society, hemmed in by a series of social laws and norms since the moment of inception. Yet it is these very standards set by society that curb their freedom to think and act and cripple their creative impulses as all the time in all that they do they are seeking social approbation.
Those who break away from the mould and have the moral capacity to stand by their beliefs come in for criticism and censure. Yet every mind created by the Almighty contains the divine spark that can take it to the stars provided we know how to harness the light within us. The philosopher Sartre defends individual life as a daily creation, “We are to ourselves our own work of art and beholden to none.”
Often we are assailed by self doubts of our own limited powers , distrust our own potential and turn prisoners of indecision. It is here we must not adhere to rules we do not like but follow our own innate desires, our personal Dharma rather than those prescribed by others.
The mind must be unwavering like a flame on a windless night, like a chime in the silence of the dark, without unnecessarily obsessing over the outcome. In the Bhagavadgita, Krishna tells Arjuna after imparting to him the wisdom of life, “Yatha ichasi tatha kuru,” do as you think fit. He grants him the right to think and act independently.
When there are career choices to be made, when there is a toss up between passion and paycheque, when we need to exercise our choices for relationships that would lead us to joy and fulfilment, we may have to march to the rhythm of our own beat. All art, all discovery and intuition, all lifes memorable journeys of great men and women, are a connection with the Divine and a destiny beyond visible horizons. Therefore we need to cock a snook at conventional wisdom when necessary and forge out on our own and in the words of the historian Hugh Mcleod, “The only way to get approval is not to need it.” Not just received wisdom, not mere conformity, what is important is to question it, to be imaginative, to think different and
be oneself.